Timeline Crisis?! Working with the Past Cures?! We'll fight Again and Again!! #3

Chapter 12: Fairy Tale World

Ayano quickly got to her feet. She felt her pulse to make sure her heart was still working. She was alive from what she could tell. Ayano was so thankful for waking up...but where exactly did she wake up? She was standing on a dirt path in the middle of a hefty forest. The trees were extremely tall and dark with bright emerald green moss covering their cedar brown trunks. The sun's rays sparkled through a light mist. Birds squaked and chirped from high in the trees and if she stood quiet for a moment she could hear a tiny stream not far away from her.

She looked around, her breathing increasing with each second as she took in her surroundings. Was she not reacting or overreacting to what had just happened? And what exactly had just happened? She could hardly remember a thing.

"Where am I?" she asked herself. Not far from her came a yell. "Am I alive? Am I dying? Am I dead? Oh no I died and this is heaven!?!?"

The voice belonged none other to Midori. She lay in the ground with her eyes tightly closed and refused to open her eyes. "Your alive!!" Ayano told her. ''And no this is not heaven!!"

She had never been so happy to see her. She was afraid she would have to endure being in an unfamiliar place all by herself.
Ayano resisted the urge to hug her then and there. "Ayano is that you?" Midori asked. She slowly opened her eyes one at a time and looked around dreading what she might see. "Where are we?” she asked as she stood up nervously.

''It looks like some kind of forest,” Ayano said. It was unlike any forest they had ever seen, in real life at least. The colors were so vivid and the air was crispy. It was as if they had fallen into a illustration, an illustration Ayano was positive she had seen many times before. "Wait---" she sniffed the air. ''Do you smell that?” She asked.

''What?” Midori said. “All I smell is dirt and trees.”
Ayano took a few steps further. “No, it’s something else. It’s sweet, like something’s being baked.”
Midori sniffed. True to her word, a mouthwatering smell was drifting through the air. “It smells like… gingerbread!”

Ayano's face went white, and she stopped breathing for a moment. She had realized where they were. No wonder the trees had been so recognizable. She had seen pictures of them so many times growing up. The book had taken them to that exact place. “Is it possible?” she asked herself.
“Is what possible?” Midori asked. "Do you know where we are?”
"I think so,” Ayano told her. “Where?” Midori asked, afraid of the answer that would come out of her mouth.

"We were transported into a Fairy Tale world!!" Ayano yelped happily and her eyes shone. "No no no no! This can't be happening! This is absolutely crazy!” Midori shook her head. She couldn’t believe what she was saying. She didn’t want to believe what Ayano was saying. “Are you telling me we’re in a fairy-tale parallel universe? As in a universe where fairy tales are real?!?!"

"YES!!" Ayano screamed at the top of her lungs. "Do you not get how lucky we are?” she said. "Think about all the things we’re going to see! Think about all the people we’re going to meet! We’re going to be experiencing things no one else in our world has ever seen or done!” Ayano was ready to burst with each word.

"But the others!!" Midori cried out. "We have to find them and track down Jikan-Senshi!"
Ayano bobbed her head up and down. "I know! They'll be plenty of time for that!"
Midori was getting frustrated with her. Did she not realize how serious the situation was?
"What are we waiting for?” she asked.

"There are just a couple things I would like to see before we find the others,” Ayano told her. “What are you talking about?” Midori said, her temper and volume rising.
"We’re in the fairy tale world, Midori. We should make the most of it while we’re here!” Ayano said. "Who else gets the chance to see Jack’s beanstalk, meet Red Riding Hood, or even see Sleeping Beauty’s spindle in person?” Midori’s eyes and mouth were wide open. She couldn’t believe what was coming out of her friend's mouth at that moment. “We’re stuck in another world, and you want to go sightseeing?!” she said. “Are you hearing yourself right now? Do you know how crazy you sound right now?”